Burning ISO file to disk

Apologies for what may be simple questions, but I've never done this before so I'm not sure what exactly needs to be done.

I have an ISO file (supposedly bootable) that I want to burn to a disk.
1) Do I burn it straight to the disk as an ISO file (using a program like Nero or Ashampoo Burning Studio) or do I need to extract the files within the ISO first, then burn those extracted files to the disk?

I have PowerISO installed on my machine. When you open PowerISO, the titlebar says "PowerISO - New Image File.daa". I'm assuming that once burned, the file extension is DAA.
2a) Does that make it bootable?
2b) If not, what other steps are needed?

3) What's the difference between an ISO, DAA, and BIN file anyway?

4) Is the process the same even if the ISO file is not specifically stated as bootable (that is, can a bootable disk be made from a non-bootable program)?

5) If the (newly created) bootable disk is for an operating system (Windows XP, for example), can this be used to install onto a newly re-formatted harddrive?

6) Is there a better program I should use or an easier way to do this?

Thank you for your help and for guiding me through this process.

 

:wave Welcome to Major Geeks! :major

To keep things simple, I'll try to answer your question in the order they were asked:

1. No. Do not burn it straight to CD as an ISO file. Use the "burn disc from image file" options. I have attached screen shots below for Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 (the free version) and Nero Express 6 (7 will be similar, 8 and 9 are different). Alternatively, you can use ImgBurn. It's free and you simply put a blank disc in your burner, open ImgBurn, browse to your ISO (or BIN or IMG) and select burn. It's a very popular program with tons of help on line. I use it for most of my image burning.
2. I don't recommend using PowerISO for burning images. I use it for creating images, and mounting images to virtual drives. Every time I have burned an image with PowerISO, it hasn't worked.
3. ISO, BIN, DAA, etc... are different image formats. DAA is proprietary to PowerISO; other proprietary formats would be UAA and UIF. Try to stay away from those if possible. They require using a particular (and not free) program. BIN and ISO are universally accepted and recognized and can be used by most (if not all) burning programs. If you have a DAA file, use PowerISO to convert it to an ISO file and burn it with ImgBurn.
4. Yes.
5. Yes. As long as you have a valid legal license (meaning: product key). Basically this means that if you have an XP Home product key, you can use any XP Home disc to install it, as long as the disc was not issued by an OEM like Dell or HP or Gateway, etc.
6. ImgBurn (as I stated above) is the best for burning images. It can also create images as can most other burning programs.

If you have any other ISO questions, or burning questions in general, feel free to post 'em. :-D

[dlb]

 

EDIT-
Question 4: Creating a bootable disc from a non booting group of files is tricky. VERY tricky. It would depend on what you want the bootable disc to do, but generally you'd need to extract a 'boot image' from a bootable disk. The disk can be a bootable floppy, or CD, depending on what you're trying to do. Then you have to modify certain files (like an AUTOEXEC.BAT for example) so they'd run the files you want to run after booting. It isn't easy, and you'd want to use CDRW discs because you're likely going to have to try numerous times until you get it right.... if you're interested, just Google "burn bootable CD" or "create bootable CD" or something similar and you'll find tons of info.

 

Thank you for the helpful information!

 

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I can use some help. I've wasted a couple of dvr's trying to figure this out. I'm trying to get an ISO file to work as a program. It's basically a learn spanish tool that should plug and play. The second is a chess game. Every time I use the "write" button it writes and then I end up with a disc with folders filled with extracted files. Pdf, data etc. The instructions are different language all together for me.